Marshalling - how do we make it better?

[Red_Merkin]

If you want teams to marshall, then you have to make it worth their while.
For the same money i can go marshall punters, who generally play by the rules, don't shoot as much paint, only play 8 games, and have breaks between every two games.

at an average cost of £80 per event to play, what i would get paid for marshalling dosn't even cover the cost of playing!
(unless the marshalls are being paid a lot more than i thought).

I'm sure my team would make great marshalls, but i'm not putting them through what the marshalls went through at M25 for a pittance.

Now, i understand Sparklie dosn't have the money to pay for better marshalling, so consider this players; if you want better marshalling, be prepared to pay for it.

We are paying the same price for Sparklie's events as we paid at the Temple a few years back, and they had half the marshalls, and some of the worst facilities ever.

The other thing that is needed is support crews for the marshalls. At Campaign Cup we have to keep the princesses happy with cups of tea, water, and relief crews. Again, all these things cost money, so the players, and Sponsors need to cough up some dough.

It will cost a lot of money to play these events, but if Sparklie reaches her vision, then we won't have to travel across europe to play class events, because they'll be right here in our own back yard.

 

[Yorkie]

Heidi on yorkies stuff

Yes i agree the money isnt much but i would give it my all regardless and its not the amount of money the course cost that is a problem either ,the fact is i have been waiting since way before Christmas for room to go on the course.
I am miffed cause,........ maybe? the newbie marshals like me didnt perform to the standard of others but how the hell can we if no one gives us the chance Sparklie gave us and belive it or not they did "shadow me so to speak and corrected me as i went along no moaning just proper advice.I want to do my job to the best i can and i no longer play paintball so i am willing to give up my day off to do this.
Yes i do get payed the same amount for Punter marshaling but i get alot more standing at the door of a pub with cool music and free everything, for alot less hours far better attitudes and alot more Respect, i dont need the insentive of money (though i would be lurrrvly )i need the insentive of the players and other marshals to improve the attitude across the board so that marshals have the support to improve and become amazing marshals and the players feel like they can play a game without the marshals having to breath down their necks everytime

 

[Watch my 6]

Don't know the best way to sort this problem out... but don't ever force people to marshal because that would just make the marshalling worse...

 

[ez-rhino]

I'm a qualified referee in 4 sports, and too be honest you get bad calls in all of them, since a players perspective of a particular incident can vary widely from the referees.

Anyway, how to make things better;

In many sports there is a grading structure in place. The lower levels are achieved through training and assessment and as you progress through the levels you are assesed to the next grade by experienced referees who provide feedback on all aspects of your ability and the way you handled the game.

In the sports I am a referee in I am also a player - I took the initial referees course so I could understand the rules when I play and learn from watching games from a refereing point of view.

No sport pays particularly well for referees, I certainly don't do it for the money - I enjoy it. I think feedback from experienced referees would be useful.

On the flip side from being trained is the events following complaints from players. Certainly in sports like volleyball only the captain may make a complaint, the other players are not allowed to discuss ecisions with the players. The captain may record his comments on the score sheet. The first complaint will warrant no action, but it will be recorded by the governing body. Subsequent complaints for similar events will warrant investigaion by the governing body and if required remedial action.

Paintball is still too fragmented and not ordered enough to have these controls in place, but if refereeing is to develop then this kind of system works.

Paintball has to decide where it wants to go. It has a governing body, in the form of the UKPSF. In most other sports if you want to play in he sport then you must be a member of the association. They have rules, procdeures and systems put down to enable that sport to develop.

There are courses for referees, but you only really start to learn how to referee after you have down the course. We learn by experience - including that of others.

EZ-R

 

[camsmith]

possibly a n00b question, but I'll ask it...

Have I heard that the rules change between every different tourny?

Is there a rulebook published by an international body , available through UKPSF, or is it up to tournament organisers?

 

[Liz]

At present there is no standard rulebook for paintball. There used to be the old EPSF rule book which most tournaments in the UK followed but it hasn't yet been updated since the early '90s. This IS in the process of being rewritten by Steve Bull (UKPSF). There's also the Millennium rules which are mostly followed by a number of events.

However, no single set of rules suit everyone, and every series/tournament organiser has their own preferences, e.g. Sosta rule vs. penalty points, hand on head for eliminations or hand/marker up in the air, knee pads over/under clothing. Also, however comprehensive a rule guide might be (around 40 pages for the draft UKPSF rules, & still growing!) they might have problems allowing for every different site set up etc. like tubed/tubeless fields, boundaries or just using the netting, availability of handheld chronies............

The UKPSF Marshall's training doesn't teach the specific rules, more how to handle players and situations properly, how to recognise typical cheats and so on, as we do have this problem with different rules for different events. Hopefully the new UKPSF rules will reduce this problem when they come out, but there will still always be some differences between tournaments.

 

[camsmith]

This sounds like a good course. I'll check the UKPSF web site for details, although I'll concentrate on becoming (at least) a half-decent player first. Knowing the way rules are handled definately won't hurt me.

As for the rulebook, I guess this should be the priority. How does this work? Is it just one person, when they get the time? Is there a committee that reviews the rules every year, so that players know what changes are coming and when they will be applied?

I understand that there needs to be flexibility for different venues, but guidelines can be set up in the rules, and "standing rules" can be applied at each tournament, but these really need to be kept to a minimum so that players know what to expect whether they are a n00b like me, a visitor from another league, or a part of the furniture!

 

[Liz]

The new Tournament Rule Guide is being written by Steve Bull (UKPSF chairman) and Russell "Rule Book" Smith (the ultimate for the S2k3 series), with feedback and comments from the UKPL committee, so it should take into consideration the views of most of the main tournament organisers in the UK.

 

[Twizz ECI]

Marshalls

the thing that most of the marshalls that i have seen over the last few years they watch the game rather than the players and do not stand in the right place, i have all ready said that i would help and do a marshall training day if we had a venue

Twizz Team Ecstasy

 

[camsmith]

I must be going blind...

I've just spent a while on the UKPSF site, and could find no reference to any marshalling courses or anything. The closest thing was the how to run a tournament, which included the American rules.

How do I learn about upcoming courses?

How do I get a copy of the rulebook?

If I have missed something, could someone post a link for me?
Thanks.